Author: gsvalentine

Taunton cyclist sets new world record

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Taunton-born cyclist Ben Rockett has set a new world record by cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats and back in under six days.

Mr Rockett, 23, completed the journey in five days and 21 hours, arriving in Land’s End at around 6am this morning.

He beat the previous record for the 1,781-mile journey – set at six days and twenty hours by Bobby Brown in 2000 – by an impressive 23 hours. The dedicated cyclist also used the challenge to raise money for charity Cardiac Arrest in the Young, who are dedicated to reducing the frequency of sudden cardiac deaths in young people. So far he has raised just over £2, 535 and donations are still flooding in.

Read the full news article on the This is The West Country website: www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk/news/8358169.Taunton_cyclist_sets_new_world_record/.

Make a donation: www.justgiving.com/rockettrides.
Website: www.rockettrides.com.

Bath University student in distance cycle record claim

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Ben Rockett

A Bath student is laying claim to a new world record for cycling from one end of the country to the other – and back!

Ben Rockett, a postgraduate student from the University of Bath, rode from Land’s End to John O’Groats and then back again to Cornwall.

Ben set off on Saturday, 21 August aiming to cycle the 1,781 miles in just six days – which he completed in the early hours of Friday.

Read the full news article on the BBC news website: news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8945000/8945860.stm.

Make a donation: www.justgiving.com/rockettrides.
Website: www.rockettrides.com.

University of Bath student wants distance cycle record

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Ben Rockett

A Bath student is getting on his bike in a bid to set a new record.

Ben Rockett, a postgraduate student from the University of Bath, is taking on the challenge of cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats and back again.

Ben set off on Saturday, 21 August aiming to cycle the 1,781 miles in just six days – he has a support team of fellow students with him.

Read it on the BBC News website.

Make a donation: www.justgiving.com/rockettrides.
Website: www.rockettrides.com.

Josh and his gran complete marathon cycle

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ALTHOUGH there were a few bruises along the way, there were smiles all round last Wednesday when one Berwickshire High School pupil and his gran got off their bikes after completing a gruelling cycling challenge.

Josh Herbert and his gran Jan Booth set off from John O Groats at the end of July and 21 days later and some 875 miles on, they reached the most southern point of the UK, Lands End.

Read the full news article on the Berwickshire News website: www.berwickshire-news.co.uk/news/Josh-and-his-gran-complete.6493803.jp.

New TV series ‘Britain by Bike’ (updated)

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Update on the  ‘Britain by Bike’ series being showing on BBC4. Clare Balding sets out on a two-wheel odyssey to re-discover Britain – from the saddle of a touring cycle.

The first four are still on the BBC iPlayer:-

North Devon
First broadcast BBC Four, 8:30pm Tue, 20 Jul 2010

Her first journey takes Clare to the rugged and beautiful Atlantic coast of north Devon – from Lynmouth, scene of Britain’s worst flood disaster in the early 1950s, to Ilfracombe via Little Switzerland, and a hidden silver mine whose riches probably helped England win the Battle of Agincourt.

URL: http://beta.bbc.co.uk/i/t4lqf/ (Available until 8:59pm Tue, 31 Aug 2010)

The Welsh Borders
First broadcast BBC Four, 8:30pm Tue, 27 Jul 2010

Clare’s journey into Wales is rich in literary connections to both Bruce Chatwin and AE Housman. She reveals how a cycle factory went to war and finds out about the Bride’s Tree – a bizarre village ceremony with a dark secret.

URL: http://beta.bbc.co.uk/i/t6yhb/ (Available until 8:59pm Tue, 31 Aug 2010)

The Isle of Wight
First broadcast BBC Four, 8:30pm Tue, 3 Aug 2010

Her journey to the Isle of Wight explores its unique sense of otherness – a strange power which could cure Dickens’s writer’s block, repel the deadly attentions of the Luftwaffe and give Victorian poet laureate Tennyson a comforting sense of his own death.

URL: http://beta.bbc.co.uk/i/t9r0n/ (Available until 8:59pm Tue, 31 Aug 2010)

West Yorkshire
First broadcast BBC Four, 8:30pm Tue, 10 Aug 2010

As she cycles through Bronte Country on the Yorkshire/Lancashire border, Clare uncovers a unique photographic collection depicting the hidden daily life of a Yorkshire mill town, a string of truly remarkable women and a secret club for henpecked husbands.

URL: http://beta.bbc.co.uk/i/td4sg/ (Available until 8:59pm Tue, 31 Aug 2010)

Here is the information for the ones that are still to be showing on TV:-

The Cotswolds (Tuesday 17th August 2010)
Time: 08:30 PM to 09:00 PM

Clare explores why the Cotswolds countryside looks the way it does, examines how post-war social change opened the doors of private houses like Blenheim to a paying public and reveals how two men – both called William Morris – helped change the face of heritage tourism.

The Scottish Highlands (Tuesday 24th August 2010)
Time: 08:30 PM to 09:00 PM

In the Scottish Highlands, Clare charts how a series of incomers have changed our view of the area – a diverse group which includes Dr Johnson, an English army of occupation, a North American spruce tree and author Gavin Maxwell, plus otter.